Katie Ride For Life

March 5th, 2011 by theAddison

Katie Caples was a young high school student from Jacksonville who became an organ and tissue donor after not surviving the trauma of an automobile accident in 1998. The organizers of the Katie Ride For Life believe that through Katie’s legacy they can help the thousands of people awaiting organ and tissue transplants by bring awareness to their needs.

The ride is held on April 16th with courses of 18 miles, 36, 62 or 100 miles. The courses go through the natural beauty of Amelia Island, the Talbot Islands and Fort George Island. For the most part, it is pretty easy cycling with few hills. The steepest parts are probably the bridges between islands.

Katie’s parents are friends of ours and fellow innkeepers on Amelia Island and we like to help out our friends when we can. I would love to go on the ride myself but I run an inn and my time is not my own. Each rider in the Katie Ride For Life is required to raise at least $100 for the cause. Walkers are expected to raise at least $25. Instead of riding the ride, here is what we are going to do. For every registered rider in the Katie Ride that stays at the Addison for that weekend we will donate $100 to the cause. Riders can use that to fulfill a part of their requirement. Walkers? Same deal but $25. That is correct. You can join the Katie Ride without worrying about meeting the minimum requirement if you stay at the Addison. Of course, we do hope that you do some fund raising on your own but we do have your minimum covered if you stay at the Addison.

For those of you who can’t participate this year but still feel like contributing to this worthy cause please feel free to contact http://www.katierideforlife.org/ directly or phone 904-491-0811.

The furthest I ever rode my bike was 75 miles and I’ve done that twice. I’ll bet I could do that 100 miles but not as fast as the guys in the spandex pants. There are certain truths that we should all hold evident in this universe and one of them is: Bob does not wear spandex. Even if it would speed my ride. Trust me.